Are you serious?

Well, I went away for the weekend and I only managed to come back with 11 new skeins of yarn and 4 1/2 inches of a new sock. The SCJ is still just a back with most of a sleeve. The go with the flow socks just have a sad little heel flap. I started the elegant ribbed stockings from the favorite socks book. And I came back with yarn for 3 new projects and a dale book (the st. moritz book, my mom wants a hat). How does one come back with 11 skeins of yarn? Well, I saw some vibrant orange trekking xxl and since the colors at the shop are mostly natural and cool shades, I had to have it. My mom also got yarn for a St. Moritz hat (6 skeins of yarn for a hat. I do believe there will be a leftover-pallooza after that hat) and since I missed my senior prom to do an audition at a school I don't really like (I don't really want to go into that...) I got yarn for an inga hat. It's going to be pink and green and I'm going to leave out the middle section. Very cute. Well, I'm too lazy to take pictures now, so tomorrow there will be a yarn porn galore.

ETA: I came home with 12 balls of yarn. 4 for the inga hat, 6 for the st. moritz hat, 1 skein of trekking xxl, and a ball of regia silk to line my mom's hat. I have fallen deeply in love with the regia and I might try in vain to squeeze a pair of size 10 anklets out of the left overs.

Baby got back

So the back of the SCJ is now drying on the bed. I wanted to see how it looked blocked because it was so curly! But I've decided to keep the pictures of the blocked pieces a secret until after my mom gets it.

So here is the SCJ in all its curly glory(or lack there of):

The unblocked back of the Sunrise Circle Jacket

And some lovely back darts (I doubted the double decrease so much, but Kate Gilbert, you are truly a genius.)




And This:


This is the first rinse. It took 6 to get the water almost clear.

The water was opaque orange. I squeezed the fabric and dark orange water seeped out. 6 rinses. SIX! But it is sort of accurate, color wise...

And the go with the flow socks? The heel flap is a little bit longer... Nothing picture worthy. Just some holey grey tubes with a little flappy thing hanging down... I want to finish them before this weekend so I can take something NEW with me when I go out of town (I'm going with my mom so SCJ will have to stay back and watch the stash).

When did that happen?

The Sunrise Circle Jacket (from here on out the SCJ) is coming along at a good pace! I made it to the dart set up row. I kept feeling like the little bottom section was taking forever and then I looked down and it grew by a few inches in what seemed like seconds! It was the opposite of a knitting black hole!

Here's the bottom part of the back, photo courtesy of swingline (stockinette is so curly!!!) This is right before the darts on the back start.

Now you might be wondering what all those little holes are... Well, they're

Picots!

I decided to add a little something different to the SCJ and totally ripped off another raveler's idea of the picots looking like rays of sunshine (thanks for the idea!)! Instead of doing a knit row on the wrong side for the turn row I did a row of k2tog, yo across.

What's that about the go with the flow socks? There's a heel flap going on? but it's only a few rows long? And they've been on the needles how long? Weren't they a Christmas gift?

The answer to all these questions: yes... I will have them done soon, but my current goal is to have the back of the SCJ done by Tuesday.

Has anyone else ever gone from knitting a heavily cabled/patterned sweater to a pure stockinette sweater? It feels like hitting a wall because the cables stack up so quickly. I went from saying "well, I'll finish this row because I don't want to forget what I'm doing" to just putting this sweater down in the middle of a row. I think the Marseilles pullover will be welcome change from almost a mile of stockinette. But, the front and back of Marseilles are exactly the same, so we'll see.

Well, I have a very sexy date tonight with the SCJ. I hear it's going to get 'dart-y'.

Hey, what ever happened to that budget you had going on?

Because it has flown out the window...
Good thing I have an employee discount.

I broke down today and bought six more skeins of Cascade 220 for my Mom's Sunrise Circle Jacket. I plan on having it done in time for her birthday at the end of May.
Considering that the arm and its respective front are done at the same time I think it'll go pretty quick. I think the shaping will be the most interesting part. Well, I'm going to knit up my swatch tonight and then the fun will begin!

In my last post I briefly mentioned all the Christmas gifts I still owe people... Well, these are the Go With the Flow socks I decided to make for my aunt. I'm almost to the heel turn!!!

You can see the finished sock behind it (which I finished a couple of weeks ago). These are very cute socks, the pattern is a winner (interweave seemed to think so) but the yarn... There are more pills on this yarn than there are in a junkie's pocket. It's so soft, but very pilly and very splitty (I split a stitch on the first sock while picking up stitches for the gusset...it looked so icky...)

Well, I'm off to play with swatches!

So... what next?

Well, now that the lovely Sofia is off the needles and now residing on her hanger by the pure cotton for the next six months, something has gotta come next! I was thinking for awhile "maybe smaller projects, get christmas presents done (from this past christmas, I'm not smart enough to do stuff for next year already), a few small things" but instead I bought this yesterday:







Five Skeins of Cascade 220 in color numberf 7802. 1100 yards of pink woollen joy. What for you ask? Well, as soon as I can get my act together I'm going to swatch and cast on for the Marseilles Pullover by the lovely and talented Veronik Avery (I really think that The best of interweave knits really should have been called Veronik and Friends. She and Norah Gaughan dominated that book! [but for a good reason!])

I instantly fell in love with that sweater and how they modeled it is exactly how I would wear it. I have the outfit already (except the sweater of course. i 'have it' but it's still in non-knitted up form...)! I think I want to finish up my aunt's socks first and then maybe a few mittens that I owe people... you may see an indecent amount of fair isle pretty soon...

Hey Harlot!

I met the Yarn Harlot!!! The canadian knitting trollop made her way to minnesota again and I got to go to her talk and get my book signed!!! I really enjoyed it and I went with my mom (who laughed, even though she's not a knitter). It was a very fun night. Parking was 'fun'. The weather was 'fun'. Walking in the rain/snow/cold was 'fun'. Once we got their we got tickets (we were on stand by but luckily got tickets anyway) and the yarnery had a little shop set up with a lot of sock yarn and the prettiest color of malabrigo I have ever seen. I walked away (well, not literally, I paid for it) with a skein of Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Sock yarn in a very pretty color way. Pinks and greens and blues and darker colors, just a mix of everything! I expected the auditorium she spoke in to be bigger, but it wasn't (explains why all the tickets were gone so quickly). They had door prizes and the Von Yarnery family singers (very cute). Then Stephanie talked. It was hilarious, interesting, and education all at the same time! After, I waited until 10 p.m. to have my book signed because I didn't realize that the number system was thrown out the window (I had 109 anyway...). I could tell she was tired by them because my book is signed "to becky, stephanie pearlm" and then it is illegible. I got a picture with my camera but didn't have my picture taken so I don't think I'll be featured on the blog (but that's okay, it was late and everybody was tired). I was star struck by her. It's embarrassing to say, but I was so nervous to meet someone that I admire so much. While I waited for her to sign my book, I won a few door prizes! My mom won these knitter's greeting cards from I believe yarn girls (which she gave to me, being a non-knitter) and I won the Shibori felting book and a Habu kit for the silk lunch bag. The yarnery also gave out buttons and back packs but seeing as I work for a rival store I don't think I'm going to get much use out of a the back pack. All in all meeting the harlot was well worth driving in the bad conditions, walking in the cold, and waiting for a very long time. I can't wait for her next book to come out and I hope she comes back to the twin cities on her next tour.

April Showers Bring May Flowers...

...And what do mayflowers bring? Why pilgrims, of course!!!

Well, last week I spent a beautiful seven days in sunny Cozumel, Mexico! It was a great time, lots of sun burns (i applied, reapplied, and still got burned.) I finished up the second sock of my all but forgotten monkeys. I don't know why I didn't just sit down and do them!!! They're done and they turned out great.

Monkeys
Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A.
Yarn: Knit Picks Essential in Grass (two different dye lots on each of the socks... shhh)
Started: Some time in october...
Finished: March 30th
Thoughts?: Great pattern, I can see why it's so popular. While knitting it the leg of the sock was very square and fun to look at but lies flat nicely when it's blocked. I did the usual 6 repeats of the lace on the leg and 7 repeats on the foot for my size ten feet. There were 13 repeats in all. The first sock I followed the pattern religiously but for the second not so much. I didn't follow her directions on how to pick up the heel sts. and the second sock looks much better than the first because of this. I am glad to have these socks done and maybe I'll do another pair in the future? who knows...

Also, I did some other knitting in mexico that should make its debut here on princess knits soon. I just have to figure out how to do some copy righting and do some designer magic. I <3 designing...

What shall the knitress do next... another pair of socks? mittens? catch up on all those christmas presents that have yet to be knit? more sweaters? We'll see...

ETA: I got the new yarnharlot book! I got it friday night after I arrived home and I have since read it cover to cover! I think this is one of my favorites along with knitting rules!